Trapped
by un1corn
Summary: One-shot. "Did you forget me already?" the high fae asked, still whispering in his ear. "And here I thought we've gotten to know each other so well. Sharing food and all that." - Someone should have really told Al that eating fairy food was a bad idea.


Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter nor am I J.K. Rowling.

A/N: Written for the Technocolor Teeth tester of the Weasley's Wizard Wheezes Challenge. This turned out darker and stranger than I expected.

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**Trapped**

_Dim vales and shadowy floods_  
_cloudy-looking woods,_  
_Whose forms we can't discover_  
_For the tears that drip all over!_  
_Huge moons there wax and wane_  
_Again- again- again-_  
_Every moment of the night_  
_Forever changing places_  
_And they put out the star-light_  
_With the breath from their pale faces._

_- _Edgar Allen Poe

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Al was drunk. The kind of drunk that left you stranded in the strangest and maybe even most dangerous places with no memory of at least the last couple of hours without caring one bit about that fact. Actually, he should have seen it coming. Being a Potter and all, it wasn't that surprising that he ended up lost in the Forbidden Forest after a wild party with centaurs.

He was kind of a regular at those party ever since Lysander Scamander had taken him to one during third year. They were just so _exhilarating_. Full of magic, passion and just the right amount of danger to keep him coming back for more every time. There were pixies whizzing through the air like a billion of colourful fireflies, sirens inhabiting the great ponds at the border of the clearing, providing the deathly beautiful soundtrack of the night. Centaurs were either standing by the trees and talking in hushed voices, looking at the stars to decipher their secret messages, or they were found dancing wildly in the middle of the clearing, engaging in the occasional brawl now and then.

While there was no food being served, there was an endless supply of firewhisky, gin or mead and that night had been no different. This was the first time, though, that Al had attended a centaur party alone. Lysander had been off with Lorcan to who knows where and James was too busy with that fifth year Ravenclaw he was dating right now to come with him. But Al knew his way around and most of the centaurs by name, so it didn't really matter.

He danced and drank and sometime during the night, he ended up agreeing to take part in a drinking match. Against a high fae. After having won the duel against Scorpius Malfoy in DADA earlier that day, he felt as if he could take on anyone. It was all a swirl of colours, laughter and fleeting touches from there. Until everything went dark.

When he woke up, he was still drunk and still in the woods. Just not in the clearing. Al scrambled to his feet, trying to piece the events of the past hours back together. Looking at the moon that shone brightly above him, not much time could have passed.

"Think, Potter, think," he whispered to himself, absentmindedly checking his surroundings.

There was no one in sight, but something definitely felt off. It didn't take him long to realize what it was not. He was covered in what looked like fairy dust. Sparkly blue fairy dust. It was everywhere, from his fingertips to his arms and – frantically pulling his shirt up to look at the damage – all over his whole chest, probably his legs as well. Al rubbed at his arm, nails digging into his skin, but instead of coming off the colour stayed in place. He noticed the occasional swirl in a darker blue, almost like a tattoo, and _Merlin, what if this was permanent?_

His breathing became labored and his vision tunneled. All he could see was blue and no rubbing or scratching could make it go away. Instead, his skin turned almost purple, the red of irritated skin mixing with the blue. He felt as if someone had pushed him into ice cold water, his mind frozen and unable to comprehend what was happening. He frantically tried to remember, but how was he supposed to think when he couldn't even remember how to breathe right?

Suddenly, laughter filled the air. Swirling around, Al tried to pinpoint where it came from, but without success. There was it again, this time to his left! Then his right, higher now, closing in on him. Laughter upon laughter upon laughter until he feared he'd go deaf from the sound.

"STOP!" he bellowed, struggling to find his wand while at the same time trying to cover his ears with his hands. It was an impossible task.

"Desperate already?" someone whispered right into his uncovered ear, stopping Al dead in his tracks.

The laughter was gone. Apart from his own loud breathing and the echo of the stranger's words, there was no sound to be heard. For some reason, Al found the silence just as unsettling as the laughing.

"Who are you?" Al asked, trying to hide the tremble in his voice and breathing a sigh of relief when his fingers finally found the familiar piece of wood.

"Did you forget me already?" the other shot back, still whispering in his ear. "And here I thought we've gotten to know each other so well. Sharing food and all that."

This time when he searched his mind for what had happened, Al _remembered_. He remembered talking to a high fae, his excitement of meeting yet another magical creature he'd only read about in his school books. The fae had been beautiful, blindingly so with skin so white it looked as if it was shining. It was a cruel sort of beauty, though, sharp bones everywhere and wings cutting through the air as if it was butter.

Al remembered agreeing to the drinking match since the evening had been kind of dull so far. The loser would have to go into the sirens' pond, because _"Don't tell me you are afraid, little wizard. I thought your kind was known for its cunning wit and bravery. Or do you want to tell me you fear what lurks under the surface?"_ was just the kind of provocation Al always fell for. He was a Potter! His dad had killed Voldemort! He feared nothing.

Of course, he had lost.

As the sirens cooed at him, their shiny hair fanning out on the calm water and their eyes red with blood lust, Al knew that he would die. So how could he refuse when the high fae took pity on him and offered to let him go, if he did as little as take a bite out of an apple?

"It's not poisoned," the fae had said and his eyes had twinkled with mirth. "I promise you that much."

Al knew faes could not lie, had learned so much in DADA. It took him one look at the sirens sharp teeth and claw-like hands to make his decisions. He'd taken the apple, bitten into it and then … nothingness.

"You tricked me," Al breathed out as his eyes went wide in panic.

"You can't trick the stupid," the high fae responded with a laugh, stepping even closer towards him and pulling him into an embrace. "It's your own fault for playing with the unknown. How silly of your little centaur friends not to warn you. Then again, maybe the stars had arranged our meeting? I am grateful that my brethren dragged me to that party, though. It's been a while since I've had a human like you in my possession."

"In your possession?" Al squeaked.

The fae's spidery fingers trailed down his arms before digging mercilessly into one of the dark blue swirls. With a sharp intake of breathe, Al realized they were runes.

"It's in our blood," the fae said slowly, "stealing treasures. You are a treasure, Albus Severus Potter. Son of the Master of Death. A special kind of wizard. I'd like to keep you."

"Well, tough luck with that," Albus cried out, wrenching himself out of the other's grasp and lifting his wand to attack. "_Stupefy_!"

Nothing happened. His wand couldn't even produce a spark! The high fae just blinked at him. Eyes grotesquely big. Then he exploded into laughter.

"I caught myself a funny one!" he laughed before stretching out his arms and making a little circle. "Come one, little wizard, wave your wand again. It's truly … _charming_! Dumb and pretty, that's how I like them best."

Suddenly, a look of pure malice entered his eyes. "Human magic doesn't exist in the Otherworld. Has nobody ever taught you that?"

"Looks like they left out a lot in the school curriculum," Al snapped, but the tremble in his voice betrayed him.

Without magic, stranded in what seemed dangerously like another dimension, he was completely and utterly helpless. He was trapped.

"If you behave, there's a lot I'm willing to teach you," the other promised with a wide smile. "I've been lonely for so long, it must have been thousands of years since my last apprentice."

Al swallowed hard, allowing himself to feel a sliver of relief at the fact that he obviously wasn't going to get eaten or tortured or whatever faes did with trapped humans. Sure, being a fae's apprentice hadn't been on his bucket list either, but Al knew better than try to escape right now. Maybe later, when he had learned more. Right now, all he could do was put his faith into his family and hope that they'd somehow come to his rescue. Like always.

_I'm never going to drink again_, Al promised himself. _Ever_.

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**A/N: I hope you enjoyed this one-shot and please review! If someone is interested in being my beta, that would be awesome :)**


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